once upon a time, i made terrariums for my friends as birthday gifts, but it’s been ages since i made one for our own house. with a sick little lady at home this week, we decided to beat the cabin fever by bringing the outdoors inside, and getting our hands dirty!

i already had a bunch of great jars from world market with tightly sealing lids. (we use them to store snacks, grains, etc.) we found a stray one, and some organic potting soil. while N (and daddy) were tasked with finding stones and toys who might want to live in our terrarium, i made a little trip to the nursery down the street for the rest of the supplies.

the types of plants who enjoy living in an enclosed, moist environment are: members of the peperomia family, pileas, miniature fern, coleus, cuban oregano, penta, tradea scentia, miniature mums. even collector plants like african violets, orchids or small begonias are great. miniature and dwarf plants work the best. i chose baby tears, a pink polka dot plant, and a small african violet. i though N would enjoy each of these.

the other things you will need are charcoal chips and pebbles (for drainage) and you can get some moss for ground cover, if you’d like. (i skipped this step, as our jar is very small and i knew the non-plant space would be covered with rocks and marbles.)

now you’re ready to create a tiny ecosystem – first start with a 1 inch layer of crushed gravel or pebbles. next sprinkle a layer of charcoal chips, enough to cover the gravel layer. top this off with 2 inches of potting soil.

03.26

2010

What a lovely idea. They would be a great idea in a preschool classroom, especially in small preschools with not much room to introduce nature into the learning environment. Thanks for sharing it – I’m keeping it in mind to do with the kids for next term.

http://sippycupcentralmom.blogspot.com sippy cup mom

My girls will love this…thanks. Karen

http://childhood101.blogspot.com/ Christie – Childhood 101

This reminds me of the Little World we have been enjoying at our home. All manner of little ‘friends’ have visited.

http://handsonaswegrow.com Jamie @ hands on : as we grow

I can see how your girl would love to check it out multiple times a day! What a wonderful learning experience – putting it together and watching what they do. I featured this in a round up of dirty, muddy ways to play!